Historic Preservation · Multifamily · Mixed Use
The Hand Trading Company
Pelham, Georgia
South Georgia’s largest department store reopened in 2020 as 54 mixed-income apartments with shops at street level.
- Built
- 1914
- Area
- 52,000 SF
- Apartments
- 54
- Reopened
- 2020
The project
The Hand Trading Company opened in Pelham in 1914 and became known as South Georgia’s largest cradle-to-grave department store. Its 52,000-square-foot brick-and-concrete building uses a flat-slab structure carried by large concrete columns.
IDP Properties and SCG Development completed the adaptive reuse in 2020. The upper floors now contain 54 one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments, with commercial space at street level.
Historic windows were repaired in place, and the domed ceiling mural was documented and recreated. Historic Tax Credits and Low-Income Housing Tax Credits helped finance the work.
Research record
Sources and provenance
Project facts and photography were archived from the firm’s public portfolio and cross-checked against the supplementary sources below.